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I just received my order for nose syringe bulbs, to replace one that I recently misplaced. Nose syringe bulbs? You might remember them from when you were a kid, or if you’re a parent, you’ll recognize them as part of the after-care kit a newborn gets from the hospital. They’re commonly used to suck mucus out of newborn and infant noses.

Bulb syringes are actually really good for flushing out small parts.

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I’ve used them on fountain pens, to clear out old ink, and tapped through-holes in machined parts, to clear out chips.

You could potentially also use them to blow out holes in masonry material to prep for anchors, but a vacuum works better. There are also specialty blow-out bulbs for this purpose, such as this one by Bosch or this one by Makita, which have straight shafts. The tapered stem of the medical bulb won’t fit long holes well.

I believe it was Brian Goulet who popularized the idea of using an ear/nose bulb syringe for cleaning and flushing out fountain pens.

Pen supply shops have them for about $4 apiece, and I might have paid that for my last bulb, but Amazon’s $5 for 3 pricing seemed better for my resupply this time around.

I found that using a bulb syringe does work great for clearing out fountain pens, and one day it came to mind that I could use it for clearing out a tapped through-hole. I didn’t need to clean the holes out perfectly, I just needed to clear some chips that were sticking in the threads a little, due to the cutting fluid I had used.

It holds ~2 ounces of water. It can also function as a gentle air blower, but there are better products out there for that, such as the Giottos Rocket air blaster.

I’m not saying that you should go out and buy some bulb syringes for your toolbox. But, maybe there will be a time when it’ll be just the thing you need. Until then, shelve the idea at the back of your mind.

12 Comments

A turkey baster was part of my bike cleaning kit. It was also good for flushing away grime – using a plastic basin to catch the liquid – some hot water and cleaner like Simple Green – and a stiff nylon brush.

As you say, squeeze bulbs like ear/nose syringes can also be used as mini dust blowers – may not be as powerful as ones made by Bosch or Giotto’s Rocket (your link) or Hilti:

I also have the same syringe for fountain pen cleaning. It works well. I can’t think of a time that I have used it for anything else. But if the time comes that I need a puff of air or liquid, I know exactly where to find it.

I have the rule “never use compressed air to clean/remove chips” drilled so deep into my psyche from high school shop class safety rules, that I would never have considered using this to remove chips. However, I’m glad, in your case you pointed out that it was a through hole (less likely to blow chips back into your face/eyes) and you used this kind of syringe which is relatively low power. So in this case I don’t need to cringe.

One of my favourite Life-Hacks is like this. Know anyone who regularly uses Eye Drops? Try to keep the squeeze bottles when empty. You can fill them with whatever you may need, and it’s a PERFECT eye dropper for that substance. I have one with purified water to clean my cats’ eyes from time to time, and another with Rubbing Alcohol to clean the printer heads on my aging printer. (A couple drops on the Ink Pad below the print head does this, you NEVER want to directly put this in the inks. They’re Alcohol based to start with, you’ll destroy them if you do that.)

They’re like a pre-filled pipette, perfect for exact sized drops every time. A Micro-Bulb if you will!

Also… They are not so tiny as to restrict you from using Olive Oil in them. THAT, if you engrave, cut, or drill Glass with Diamond bits using a Dremel Rotary of any sort, is the ultimate coolant/lubricant for the job. One drop, fire up the bit, and cut on through. The Olive Oil not only does not smoke or warm up, but also stays in place as the depth increases, keeping things from heating up, and prevents cracks.

It’s all the same principle. It’s a mini eye dropper type device that you keep for either fluids, or air, to achieve a specific job.

You’re both correct. They’re all the same idea. Mine are just a repurpose of a disposable object. They wear out too, with multiple fillings, and all that flexing… but they do last.

So you use pipettes? So what? They work too. It’s a mere coincidence that Eye Drops come in a container with nearly identical drop dimensions as the pipettes. I have a toy plastic pipette from a toy Microscope that I use for the ink head cleaning as well. These are HACKS. All of these tools have the same diameter hole at the end. Noob and Stuart are using tools specifically for ink transfer for pens. You’re using the tools properly.

I happen to use these as Life Hacks. First Aid, I have one with Peroxide in it to sterilize a wound (Or cat scratch for that matter.), Glass Drilling I have one with Olive Oil in it for lubricant/coolant, Flush purposes, Pre-Boiled and Brita Filtered Water for cleaning things like eyes, and yes… I have one with Rubbing Alcohol for my printer… or if I accidentally grab it instead of the Peroxide, it doubles as a sterilizer for wounds.

Life Hacks don’t have to be taken so seriously. I have a beard trimmer that requires mineral oil every so often, and if I knew which kind they used, I’d buy a small jug of the stuff, and make one of these pocketable dropper devices for that, too.

The Baby Nasal Bulb? It works, even though it’s not meant for that use. That, I suppose, you could call a Tool Hack. These things happen to be how we end up with all the tool shapes we have now. Someone makes something that works by making a tool do something it’s not meant for…they show it to whoever is making the lackluster competition… Thus we get a better version of a tool. It’s part of the fun of being a tool user! You’re also an integral part of developing the requirements for future versions of tools!

I bought a bulb syringe to use for DSLR camera lens and mirror cleaning while I was waiting for the Giottos Blaster to arrive, it actually worked great and cleaned out dust that was causing issues. Of course the Giottos Blaster works even better and pushes more air in a more specific area, but if you want something inexpensive/disposable and small to boot, the bulb syringe is hard to beat.

The benefit of the bulb syringe is that you can fill it with water, soapy water, or other cleansers if needed.

The Giottos Rocket blaster and others like it have valves at the back, which helps avoid contamination when it draws air back in. The valve allows it to pull clean air from the back, instead of through the stem.

I have used a balloon inflation pump to clean out a deep masonry hole. The tip was just perfect. I repurposed my son’s baby bulb to my tool box, but in this case the hole was too deep for it. Using my Giottos for this would have worked but that means I could no longer use it on my camera [The downside to my Giotto is that it freaks out airport security every now and then (:-( ]

You can also use a small bicycle or ball pump in a pinch. The downside to either is it’s a two handed operation.

Another handy tool is a feeding syringe ($5-7). you can get them with 100mL capacity or larger and some have a long flexible tube. They are often sold as pet feeding syringes. They work great for extracting fluids and less messy than a turkey baster.